The use of protective gloves having impact absorbing protective padding on the palms thereof is well known. One such glove (disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,561,122, Stanley et al.) is constructed from a shock absorbent material and has a palmar metacarpal pad which covers the entire palmar area between the wrist and the second, third, fourth and fifth metacarpophalangeal joints, excluding the surface of the thenar eminence, the mound at the base of the thumb, such pad Comprising a double thickness of glove material.
A common problem encountered in using prior art protective gloves, including that of Stanley et al., is the development of blisters on the gloved hands of the wearer. Ordinarily, there is a certain amount of bulkiness associated with the addition of protective padding to the palmar area of a glove. This bulkiness can have the effect of interfering with the natural contours of the folded hand. Furthermore, the position of the stitching lines which secure the protective padding to the palmar surface of the glove are often the result of random selection, economies of manufacture, or are selected for aesthetic appeal, (for example stitching lines in quilted flower patterns have been used in order to maximize the consumer attractiveness of the gloves). The palmar surface of such protective gloves will fold in response to flexion of the wearer's hand for gripping objects, but the manner and location of such folding is arbitrarily determined in the prior art by the peculiarities of construction of the glove itself, and not by the physiology of the wearer's hand. In other words, the fold locations of the palmar material of the glove will not necessarily correspond to the natural fold lines of the skin of the wearer's palm, but will instead place constriction upon the wearer's palm in positions which are unnatural to the folded human hand. When such constrictions are frequently applied and released (as in repeated flexion of the hand), or are accompanied by the application of significant pressure, such as in industrial applications or in the sport of weight lifting, then the soft tissues of the wearer's palm experience trauma, typically resulting in blistering of the wearer's skin in areas underlying the folds of the glove.
Furthermore, if the wearer puts significant stress upon the heel of the hand, either as a result of repetitive impacts (vibrational or otherwise) or as a result of long term weight bearing (in situations such as cycling), then injury to the median nerve of the hand may occur. The median nerve travels through an anatomic space at the base of the palm of the hand known as the carpal tunnel. If external pressure is applied to the carpal tunnel, then such pressure is transmitted to the median nerve and, over time may result in injury which is experienced as numbness and tingling of the thumb, index, middle, and part of the ring fingers of the hands. This phenomenon is know as repetitive stress injury, or Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.
Frequently, individuals will wear padded gloves in an effort to lessen the force and frequency of pressures to the carpal tunnel area. Conventional padded gloves may provide some relief from trauma to the wrist area generally; however, prior art protective gloves have failed to take into account the subtleties of the structure of the carpal tunnel region. Accordingly, the wearing of conventional padded protective gloves may even have the effect of exacerbating Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, since the additional padding found in conventional padded protective gloves may have the effect of increasing the resultant pressure upon the carpal tunnel, even as it protects the hand generally.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a padded protective glove that not only protects the most vulnerable areas of the wearer's hand from impact and frictional trauma, i.e., the heel, the palm and the frontal, proximal areas of the fingers, but also protects the wearer's hand from soft tissue damage caused by incompatibility between the protective padding present in the palmar area of prior art protective gloves, and the underlying anatomical structures of the wearer's hand.
More particularly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a padded protective glove which avoids injurious contact between protective palmar padding of the glove and the soft tissues of the wearer's hand by conforming such protective padding to the contours of the wearer's palm during flexion thereof.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a padded protective glove which will fold in the same locations as the natural palmar creases of the wearer's hand.
It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide a protective glove which lessens the severity of pressures applied to the carpal tunnel of the wearer's hand, and thus lessens the risk of potential trauma to the median nerve.